The contrasting emotions at the final whistle told their own story. Stoke supporters vented their anger after a dismal performance that marks them down as genuine relegation candidates while the euphoric Aston Villa fans chanted: "We are staying up," on the back of a thoroughly deserved victory that lifts them out of the bottom three and within a point of their Midlands rivals.

Stoke are in free fall. They have won just one of their past 13 league matches and, on this evidence, Tony Pulis faces a major battle to keep the club in the Premier League. It is difficult to do justice to just how bad Stoke were on an afternoon when Villa should have spared themselves the late drama. Ahead through Gabriel Agbonlahor's early goal, only the combination of Villa's profligacy and Asmir Begovic's fine goalkeeping prevented the match from being well beyond Stoke before Michael Kightly came off the bench to equalise.

At that stage it looked as though Stoke, who had offered so little for so much of the game, would pilfer an unlikely point, but that notion was shattered in the 87th minute in spectacular style. Taking the ball on his chest 30 yards from goal, Matthew Lowton struck a wonderful volley that arched over the head of Begovic and into the top corner for a goal of the season contender. "I don't think we'll see a better goal in Europe, let alone Britain. The technique was world-class," Paul Lambert said.

Once the Villa celebrations died down, there was the dull thud of upturned seats as Stoke fans began to evacuate the stadium. By the time Christian Benteke registered his 15th Premier League goal of the season in the 90th minute, there were more empty seats than home fans in the ground. So much for the Britannia Stadium being a bearpit.

It was easy to forgive those who departed before the end. This was a listless Stoke display, and one that exposed how brittle the confidence is within a team that has picked up only five points in 2013. Supporters were unable to conceal their frustration, railing against the prosaic football that was easier to tolerate when it delivered results.

The comfort for Stoke is that they are still four points clear of the relegation zone, albeit having played two games more than Wigan. The bad news is their next opponents are Manchester United, who visit next Sunday. "What you have got to do when the bad times come, you've got to show your character and that's everyone around the football club," Pulis said. "We've got to make sure we get the six points [we need] to stay up."

Pulis bemoaned Mark Clattenburg's refusal to award two penalties, claiming that Nathan Baker and Ron Vlaar were both guilty of handball. He certainly had a case with the Baker incident, which happened in the opening 90 seconds, although the truth is that it would have been a gross injustice if Villa had picked up anything less than three points here.

The manner in which Stoke fell behind was a sign of things to come. Marc Wilson and Matthew Etherington allowed Lowton to escape far too easily after a simple throw-in routine involving Jordan Bowery on the right. Lowton picked out Agbonlahor's run towards the near post and, following Geoff Cameron's half-hearted attempt to block, he tapped in from three yards. Villa were buoyant and sensed the game was there for the taking. Bowery's curling effort brushed the side-netting, Agbonlahor swept a left-footed shot just wide and Andreas Weimann, bursting through the middle of a porous Stoke defence, saw his low strike superbly pushed on to the post by Begovic, who also denied Bowery early in the second half.

Pulis's decision to introduce Charlie Adam in place of Ryan Shotton, who endured a torrid afternoon, brought cheers from the Stoke fans and an immediate change in fortunes. Walters came inside Lowton and picked out Adam who nudged the ball on to Kightly for the winger to sweep home from 12 yards.

Villa could have imploded at that point but, to their credit, they hit back in style, Lowton's thunderbolt and Benteke's cool finish securing a third win in four games. "I thought we were the better team throughout the game, I thought the football we played was outstanding," said Lambert.

As for Pulis, it is a measure of how bleak things are that he was asked whether he was fighting for his job. "That's up to Peter [Coates, the chairman] and the Coates family," he said." I have always given my best for the club and I always will. Hopefully we will get enough points to stay in the Premier League again."